Cambridge O Level Biology · Syllabus 5090 · Relationships of Organisms with One Another and with the Environment
Food Chain Length
What is Food Chain Length?
The number of trophic levels a food chain contains, which is usually fewer than five. Each transfer between levels is inefficient, so the energy available falls sharply from one level to the next. After a small number of transfers there is too little energy left to support a further population of predators large enough to sustain itself, which sets a practical limit on how many levels a chain can have.
This definition is part of the Relationships of Organisms with One Another and with the Environment chapter in Cambridge O Level Biology.
Last reviewed Syllabus 2026-2028